Calwell Primary School eNewsletter

From the Principal

Dear Calwell Families,

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. We have a busy few weeks ahead with two sport carnivals, Footsteps Dance continuing and the Year 5/6 Camp to Cooba.

Staffing News

We are delighted to welcome Pia Hughes and Ben Jones to Team Calwell. Pia and Ben are both experienced teachers who bring a range of skills and experience. While their primary role will be covering teacher absences, they will also provide support in classrooms working with individual students or small groups when possible. Relief staff are extremely difficult to find on a day to day basis and having Pia and Ben on staff will enable class programs to continue and provide more stability for students.

Many members of the community are aware that Sue Sullivan has worked in the school since it opened. Most recently Sue has been working in the preschool. Sue is currenly on extended Long Service Leave which will continue until late in Term 2.

Car Park & Traffic Arrangements

Parking and traffic flow in the school’s car park is currently as sign posted – back to pre COVID. Parking is available in parking bays, areas signed as drop-off and pick-up require drivers to remain in their vehicles to collect their children and should not be used as parking spots. Please also adhere to leaving red curb areas clear. When street parking around the school ensure you are parking legally and please be respectful and not park in a manner that blocks resident's driveways. Cars parking in areas including the nature strip near the bottom oval have recently been fined. We are continuing to work with the relevant parties to advocate for additional parking spaces however this is likely to be a lengthy process. Any written corresponence we receive will support our submissions.

School Uniform

Wearing the school uniform is an important part of building a sense of belonging to Team Calwell. We appreciate your support in promoting the wearing of the school uniform – this includes warm items such as fleece tops or coats in navy blue. Please ensure your child/ren also have a wide brimmed hat to wear. All belongings should have a name clearly visible as this enables us to return lost items.

School Attendance

A friendly reminder that all students need to arrive before the 9am bell. Children who regularly arrive late to class miss a key part of the morning routine when messages are passed on and first learning activities outlined. Regularly running late to class has a significant impact on student achievement outcomes.

School Board

I encourage all members of the community to participate in the Board elections. Information about the candidates and the election process can be found within this newsletter.

Linda Neeson

Principal

CARES Awards

Board Nomination Statements

We have received two nominations for the vacant parent representative position on the School Board. Voting opens Wednesday 10th March and closes on Wednesday 17th March, a ballot paper is available from the office staff and the voting box is located in the Front Office. Below are the brief statements from the two candidates:

Tanya Goodman

My name is Tanya Goodman and I am nominating to become a parent representative for the School Board.

A little about myself, I am originally from a mining town in Northwest Queensland. My husband, daughter, and I moved to Canberra in 2015 for a change of scenery and a place that actually has 4 seasons in a year. My son was born in Canberra and both of my kids go to Calwell Primary School and are in grade 1 and kindergarten.

My background is working in the mining industry firstly in administration and then as a payroll officer. For the last 6 years, I have been a stay at home mum.

My main interests and objectives of being on the Board is to learn the way that a school runs. Everything is a bit different in Queensland and I would love to learn about the differences between the states. I am a parent who would like to be on the Board to help the Calwell school community, be it with fundraising or just reading a book to the kids. I would like to be the voice for other parents and their ideas.

Michael Hilton

My name is Michael Hilton and I have a daughter attending preschool in 2021 at Calwell Primary School. I would enjoy the opportunity to actively participate in the Calwell Primary School community as a parent representative on the Board.

I have worked in the community and government sector for 20 years including within the Education Directorate. I understand the complexities and challenges faced by students, parents/carers, staff, families and will bring my experience to support the community to find solutions to any challenges that arise.

I believe community engagement is key to the success of any school and I will endeavour to support the Calwell Primary School community to enhance connections and build on fostering positive relationships.

NAPLAN

Letter_to_Parents.pdf

Preschool

The preschool children had a visit from Kenny Koala and David this week to learn about road safety. It’s Click, Click, Clack to put on your seatbelt and you can only take it off when mum, dad or an adult tell you. We learnt how to cross the road safely and what to remember: no toes over the road, look, listen, hold an adult’s hand and walk across the road. It was exciting to hear the police car siren and see the flashing lights.

We have been talking about Belonging at preschool: what does belonging mean? Where do you belong? Do you belong at preschool? The Magpies and Cockatoos made a collaborative rainbow as part of their investigation into belonging.

Scrivener

Kindergarten have been busy learning about letters and their sounds. This week the Kindergarteners have started using the sounds they have learnt so far to write simple three letter words. Students have been practising saying words out loud, listening to the sounds they hear in words and writing them down. Here are some of the words students wrote this week.

Corin

Year 1

Year One have been learning about 2D shapes. We have been looking at circles, squares, rectangles, triangles and diamonds. Students have been using the language of edges and corners to identify and describe these shapes. They have engaged in multiple hands on activities including, building shapes with straws, drawing shapes with chalk, describing shapes to a partner and solving open ended questions.

Year 2

The last few weeks we have been learning about healthy food choices in our Unit of Inquiry, Fresh Tastes. As part of this Unit of Work we have been tasting some different fruits and vegetables including mango, olives, pineapple, capsicum, snap peas and dragon fruit. We have discussed packing healthy foods for school and last week made wraps.

Year 1

Year 2

Googong

Students in Googong have begun their artist study as part of our Visual Arts unit. This week we looked at Andy Warhol and his influence on the pop art scene. Students have been working on creating their own pop art based on his soup cans work and used contrasting colours to make the artwork pop.

Bendora

Students in 5/6 have been working hard to develop their understanding of integers. They have been exploring the different places a negative integer can be seen and engaged in a game known as ‘don’t go broke’ trying to keep their bank balance from going negative.